I thought you would all love seeing this picture and reading this note about Izzy…..

Hi Kathleen,
I wanted to send you this photo of Izzy at work in the greenhouse. She definitely knows that we are her people and she likes to keep an eye on us…or block the greenhouse door while she sleeps!
Hope all with you is well. We’re fine. Our oldest son finally got a job offer today, in his field, after graduating from college in September. He and his fiance are expecting a baby in April so everyone is relieved, as you can imagine. Rob and I are looking forward to having a grandchild.
Izzy was spayed and Dr. Levenson removed her rough, swollen ovaries. We got pathology done and thankfully they were benign. She seems to have perked up since the spaying, has more energy and is generally acting more youthful. Rob and I are enjoying her company very much. She’s definitely a joy! Thank you for all you do.
Lucy

This is rescue

Rose was picked up in a field near I-40 and Tijeras. She is an old girl and was probably turned out to die. We got many emails about here from people who spotted her on the shelter web site. The first was from someone who said she was a dear but had a huge *wart* on her eyelid so they didn’t think anyone would adopt her.

We got in action. Picked her up, got her groomed, got her into a foster home. Here is what they said:

A little up-date on Missy, she is here with us now. She is such a good dog. She gets along very well with our dog and our 3 cats. Not a sign of aggression or anything.
She is a really old girl, and just wants to hang out with people. She follows me wherever I go.

We scheduled her get ready for a new home stuff.

Hi I picked up Missy this am and took her to be groomed.She was a little scared and difficult to get in and out of the car.When I picked her up she pranced out of the groomers letting me know she loves her new do.She also got in the car pretty easily.I took her to Rio Grande where she will spend the night and have her surgery in the am.Holly said her teeth were really bad so I okayed a cleaning.

Right about this time, we got an application from a couple who wanted an older dog. We called them. A couple of days after her surgery, they came to meet her and the chemistry was right. Rose has a new home.

what a great story of people helping.

Here is her family

I wanted to give you an update on our life with Rose. We fell in love with her right away and she settled in here without a hitch. She acted like she had lived here for years and seemed to be quite happy.

Unfortunately last Saturday evening she started vomiting and Sunday morning I took her to the emergency pet clinic. They diagnosed an intestinal blockage and she underwent surgery. During the surgery they discovered cancer in the intestine, which caused thickening in the intestinal wall and contributed to the blockage. The surgeon took out about 10″ of small intestine. There was also a cancerous mass on the liver which was removed. Tuesday evening we brought Rose home and she seemed to be doing rather well considering she had been through major surgery. Wednesday she did OK, ate a little bit and was drinking water. Thursday, however, she would not eat and quit drinking as well, so we took her back to the emergency clinic. She was found to have a massive bacterial infection in her abdomen and it had spread to her bloodstream as well. The odds of recovery from all that were bleak at best, and given her age and that she had already been through major surgery, we made the extremely difficult decision to have her euthanized. She died quietly late last night, and we were there to say goodbye.

Please note that this dog was given away because he was destructive, out of control and not a good dog.
His story is the essence of what rescue is about…the best of re-homing.

Hank is a 4 year old male who is as sweet as his picture. He has had a hard life. He was pretty badly abused in the past. When I picked up the broom to sweep the porch, he hit the deck. But he is loving, attentive and really wanting to please. He loves to go walking and running. He is neutered, has has his shots and is very healthy.

He does get anxious if left alone so we are going to recommend that he be crated if you go away. He will do best in a family where someone is home during the day. He loves kids and other dogs.

Great news from the family.
It’s been almost 3 weeks since we picked up Hank, and life for all is going wonderfully. After Hank has nearly run us over several times and continues to step all over our feet, we have reconsidered his name and it has morphed from Hank the Tank to just Tank. And you know, it quite fits his lumbering and easy going way very well. Though, over the first week or so, since he constantly followed us about the house, we did consider naming him Hemorrhoid.

As per our contract, we had him to the vet within the 7 days, and all is well. Him and Gabe are getting along well. Though at first, Tank was not really interested in playing, but over the last week that has changed and the two wrestle around and chase each other through the yard quite a bit. Mostly, I noticed a continuous increase in the amount of tail wagging that he does and it pleases both Stacey and I that he seems very happy and is settling well here.

With regards to his obedience his is doing very well. He is pretty good about coming when called. We found that “sit”, “stay”, “down”, and “out of the kitchen” were not in his vocabulary, but we are slowly working with him to get these down. There seems to be something with sitting that brings out a bit of fear. Sometimes he ducks or lays down as we work with him. Definitely he has some bad experiences there. However, we are making his “sit” command a very positive experience with lots of praise and love.

His is very good in the house (house trained) and prefers to lay very close by to where either Stacey or I are located. He very much likes his food and will come to the table, but I think he is really looking for affection. Ignoring him work well and we are teaching him “No, mas” when he should lay down and not bother anyone. He is good about not eating Gabe’s food. He certainly understands “no”, and we are including “not yours”.

At night he sleeps in the bedroom with us. He is not confined, he is free to go around the house as he chooses. Though he prefers to hang with us in the bedroom. His separation anxiety is there, but some much less now than when he first arrived. During the first couple weeks Stacey was mostly home though she did practice with him by putting him outside for short periods of time. Then leaving the property, etc. Over the last couple days, both Stacey and I were at work without any problems. No destruction, etc. He gets his treat in the morning when Stacey leaves and does come to the fence, but doesn’t jump up or try to get out. I have not noticed any digging near the fence and we are sure Gabe has a big part to play in this. We have also left the back door open so he can come into the house and we are working on getting the doggy door opened up for him and Gabe.

He is very good going for walks, meeting other people and dogs. I have also taken him for a couple runs which he has done very good. He also seems to like hanging out on rides and will jump right into the vanagon.

I think that is our report for now. All and all, he is doing fantastic and it is wonderful to have him as part of the family, for now and many, many years to come. Thank you.

Brian & Stacey

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This is Brandy now called Mysie. Animal Humane called us about a 10 year old owner turn in. They said she was edgy with children, bit the vet and was grumpy. So one of our scouts went to get her. We got her cleaned up, found she was just fine with the other dogs, took her to the vet with no problem. We asked someone to foster her. They have fallen in love with her. Here is their note.

Do you think this is one happy dog!!!

She’s become my ‘little’ velcro dog.

Mysie is a very traditional Scottish girls name (our dogs are always Scottish, the cats are French). Mysie Mae Collins McTaggart–quite a mouthful for one dog.

You should have seen her last night. I rode my bike home from work and so treated myself to a leisurely beer on the back deck. We were sitting there enjoying the nice afternoon sun and she proceeded to put on quite the show with her squeaky toy in the grass–tossing it in the air, rolling around, biting it so it would squeak. And of course the more we laughed the more she performed.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to consider agility…that will have to wait for a younger dog with more robust hips. And still not sure what to do about the doggie door (she’s really too large to squeeze through–or at least that’s what she’s decided). I am saddened to think that in 2-3-4 years I’m likely to be back in that gut-wrenching situation of having to make decisions about quality of life. But as one friend reminded me, for whatever years we have together we will both benefit.

Annie was a 10 week old blind puppy. She was with me long enough to get to know her personality. She was a feisty little thing with a few quirks. I found her enchanting.

Little annie really deteriorated over the last week and started to have increasing fits of growling, snarling and biting herself. It is as if her brain was unraveling. It was getting to place of her not being safe, my not being able to care for her. And it really seemed as if the issue of *quality of life* was just no longer viable. So, very sadly, I made the decision to let her go.

I think of her now being with her brother Franklin, with her sight and smell and balance restored, raoming with him in green fields like the grasses in California in January when the rains come.

I know we all did the best we could.

Leo was picked up as a strays, and was scheduled to be put down the following day. Leo had a tag with his name, an address, and a phone number. Animal Control contacted the owner, apparently more than once. Leo’s owners did not want to pay the $25 fee to get him released. I picked up Leo that morning, January 7.

Leo impressed me with his calm demeanor and loving nature. He fit right into our household, including the other doggies, immediately. He had been neutered and microchipped already so I went ahead and got his distemper/parvo shot. Dana came to look at Leo and fell in love with him on the spot, and he with her. He was exactly what she had described in her application as what she had been looking for.

Dana needed to make some repairs to her fence, and get her yard cleaned up before Leo could move in, so she planned to pick him up a few days later.

During that time period the local mobile vet was out to our house for something else, so we had her draw blood and run a heartworm test. Bad news here — he was heartworm positive. We decided to go ahead with treatment. We knew that Dana was in love with him. For that matter, we were, too. He is a wonderful little pooch.

So we got the heartworm treatment started, and kept him at our house for the first week. Then he went to Dana’s house, where he is now. She is taking care of him during the remainder of the recovery phase from the heartworm treatment, where he continues to do very well in his forever home. He is such a calm dog that he doesn’t need to be crated, and Dana calls every other day to report on his latest antics, with which she is thoroughly enamored.

Leo is the ideal GRRNM success story.

Casey is a 2 year old male who just arrived. He was found as a stray near Carlsbad. He was well cared for physically but not treated well. We think he was abused because he hits the dirt when he first meets new people.

He is thin and needs some good food to build him up. But he is very sweet, very loving. He has a lot of young energy but is not hyper. He likes other dogs and is good natured.

This be one happy dog! Here is a note from his new mom

Hi Kathleen,
As you can see from the picture, Barley is settling in easily and we just love him! He will without a doubt be a GREAT match for our family. Thankyou SO MUCH for bringing him into our lives… we are forever grateful. He is already learning to use the dog door, is responding well to “down” well trying to get up on the counter or table, and responding to his new name. He is cowering less and I can already tell is developing some confidence in us to love and treat him well. He’s very calm in the house.
With gratitude,
Jean

His name is Buddy, and he is three to four years old. He is neutered, has never had any health issues, and has been an active, vivacious dog. He loves to go bike riding, hiking and just walking. He does best when exercised vigorously at least once a week- which means running or bicycling. He also does well in the snow, and likes to go snowshoeing.

He has lived with three cats, and will chase if the cats give chase. However, he will lie next to them and has never been aggressive with them. He gets along with some dogs,but because of the attention he needs a single dog owner would be ideal. He loves lots of personal attention and a gentle touch. His current owner doesn’t really know how he does with children. He seems to be fine with her younger brother and sister, aged 8 and up.

He is trained to basic commands- he knows how to sit, lay down, stay,wait, and also knows “out of the kitchen” and “go get it”. He rides in the car and likes to go places in the back seat, but can get car sick on long rides. He is very well housebroken- He is both an indoor and outdoor dog- he has plenty of hair to keep him warm in this cold climate.

His family is moving this weekend and cannot take him. We are looking for either a foster home or a permanent place for this sweet guy.

Buddy has a new home….here is a note from them

K,
Just to let you know all has gone well with Buddy today.
He’s sleeping at my feet right now. Kids all came over to meet him.
Thanks for your help,
Susan

The boy has a new home with folks that LOVE him.

Just wanted to let you know that Casey is graduating from family dog obedience tomorrow ! He has done well and enjoys learning.. We will probably enroll in beginning agility in March. Casey is very athletic and limber.
We are enjoying his company…he is an angel sent to heal our broken hearts. My 88 year old dad loves his company during the day. Jill,his sister,thinks that he is pretty special also.
I frequently check out the rescue web page and pray that those great animals will find a “forever home”, like Casey.
Casey has a nice shinning coat that resembles diamonds. He has gained 3 pounds since we adopted him. He rides well in the car and has multiple friends at doggy day care.
Well, all for now. I wanted to keep in touch with you and if you ever need a any help with rescue, Dave and I , would like to lend a hand. We could not foster but may be able to help in some other capacity.

Casey is 9 mos. owner turn in. He’s a gorgeous purebred golden who looks exactly like Buster the dog, in the Bush Beans commericals! He has a lot of energy and acts like a teenager. He will do really well with someone who wants a running or hiking companion. He has a great temperament and needs a little guidance with manners. You will love this dog!

email Kathleen at kathleen@radiantrecovery.com to see him

Heidi is a very loving dog. She has a wonderful temperament. She is so loving and affectionate. She likes other dogs, does not like cats. She is about 5 years old.

We all love Heidi and want her to find a fabulous permanent home. Heidi came to us very emaciated. You can see she has flourished in her foster home. Her coat is kind of short right now which is natural after childbirth. She is embarrassed to be seen in public. But she is in GREAT shape!

Well, Heidi has a wonderful new person. She is thrilled. And her new owner Jan is thrilled too. Talk about a perfect match!